National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Jennifer Houston today issued the following statement regarding President Trump's call in his State of the Union Address for swift Congressional approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement:

"We welcome President Trump's call for quick passage of the USMCA, and we hope that members of both parties in both chambers heed that call. With 96 percent of our potential customers living outside the United States, there's no policy issue more important to American cattle producers than access to foreign markets. The sooner we can secure our access to Mexico and Canada, the sooner we can focus our time, energy, and resources on improving our access to lucrative markets in Asia and Europe."